48 Hour Cheat Sheet: Portland, OR
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Restaurants & Bars
Andina Restaurant
1314 NW Glisan St.; 503-228-9535 or andinarestaurant.com.
The menu at this Peruvian restaurant is split into two categories: traditional dishes from his home country, like ceviches and arroz con pato (duck confit over cilantro rice), and complex new-Peruvian cuisine, such as quinoa-crusted diver scallops and pisco-brined roasted chicken. The cocktail menu follows the same format: Mojitos are made both in the classic style and with pineapple-infused rum.
Clyde Common
1014 SW Stark St.; 503-228-3333.
This sunlit, minimalist restaurant next to the Ace Hotel feeds Portland’s creative class and visiting celebs at long, communal tables. The menu is trendy, yet delicious: frog’s legs with a spicy tomato puree, carrot gnudi with mint and mustard oil, whole roasted branzino. The cocktail list alone—a mix of classic drinks and contemporary concoctions like fig-infused vodka with Earl Grey tea and tangerine—makes the place worth a visit.
The Country Cat
7937 SE Stark; 503-408-1414 or thecountrycat.net.
This “dinnerhouse” in southeast Portland is worth the trip from downtown. Chef Adam Sappington, a Wildwood Restaurant alum, cooks upscale heartland food like molasses-smoked duck legs, skillet-fried chicken with braised Bibb lettuce and amazing butterscotch pudding.
Genoa
2832 SE Belmont St.; 503-238-1464 or genoarestaurant.com.
Long undisputed as Portland’s champion of Italian fine dining, Genoa’s frequently changing tasting menus blend French and Italian (porchetta, perfect homemade pasta) served in a diminutive, dimly lit (and, some say, romantic) dining room.
Higgins Restaurant & Bar
21239 SW Broadway; 503-222-9070.
Its no wonder chef Greg Higgins’s eponymous restaurant remains a favorite with both carnivores and vegetarians: He has been confiting duck and curing hams for more than a decade in this central downtown mainstay, but he’s equally enamored with Oregon’s great local produce (including the herbs and vegetables he sources from his own garden).
Le Pigeon
738 E. Burnside St.; 503-546-8796 or lepigeon.com.
Wunderkind Gabriel Rucker, an F&W Best New Chef 2007, challenges diners with daring nose-to-tail preparations like bone marrow sandwiches, pig tongue with apple barbecue sauce and pig’s head au torchon.
Paley’s Place
1204 NW 21st Ave.; 503-243-2403 or paleysplace.net.
For 12 years, Paley’s Place has been a leader in Portland’s local/organic movement. Chef/owner Vitaly Paley uses the area’s best ingredients in his Southern French and Northern Italian-influenced dishes, such as coppa-wrapped asparagus with Taleggio cheese and pistachio brittle.
Park Kitchen
422 NW Eighth Ave.; 503-223-7275 or parkkitchen.com.
Scott Dolich, an F&W Best New Chef 2004, creates playful, ingredient-driven entrees like Pork and Beans, a lusty duo of glazed pork belly and fava beans. The restaurant’s inventive cocktail list is one of the city’s very best. Try the Salt and Pepper, a tangy blend of gin, grapefruit juice, lime juice and bitters.
Pok Pok and Whiskey Soda Lounge
3226 SE Division; 503-232-1387 or pokpokpdx.com.
What started as a take-out stand has grown to include a 35-seat bar and restaurant, where chef/owner Andy Ricker models his boldly flavored menu after the family of Thai dishes known as kap klaem (“drinking food”). His specialties include highly addictive fish sauce-marinated chicken wings and papaya pok pok salad, named for the sound a pestle and mortar make when preparing the dish. The cocktails only make the food better: A tamarind whiskey sour or a Thai chile-spiced Bloody Mary are ideal pairings.
Toro Bravo
120 NE Russell St.; 503-281-4464 or torobravopdx.com.
Portland desperately needed a great Spanish restaurant, and the new Toro Bravo has delivered. In the airy, burnt-orange dining room, the list of 30-plus tapas and entrees ranges from oxtail croquettes to smoky grilled beef cubes to jamón-wrapped chicken. The Spanish-accented cocktail menu includes the intriguingly refreshing Red Pepper Delicious, made with gin, muddled red pepper, mint and lime juice.
Wildwood Restaurant
1221 NW 21st Ave.; 503-248-9663 or wildwoodrestaurant.com.
Cory Schreiber recently tapped his young apprentice, Dustin Clark, to be his restaurant’s new executive chef, and Clark has held Wildwood to its "cooking from the source" credo with dishes like sweet corn agnolotti pasta and local pork chops with berry-glazed onions and roasted plums.
Shopping
Foster & Dobbs Authentic Foods
2518 NE 15th Ave.; 503-284-1157.
At this northeast-Portland cheese-and-wine shop, co-owners Luan Schooler and her husband, Tim Wilson, won’t let anyone escape without tasting at least one of their cheeses, whether it’s a new mountain-style Gruyère from Rockhill Creamery in Richmond, Utah, or a delectable goat’s-milk cheese from Juniper Grove Farm in Redmond, Oregon. Schooler loves to tell the stories behind the cheeses, too, and offers Cheese 101 and wine-pairing classes. The store’s café serves a cheese plate and also sells local jam, honey and cider.
Ristretto Roasters
3520 NE 42nd Ave.; 503-284-6767 or ristrettoroasters.com.
Owner Din Johnson’s obsession with perfect coffee benefits everyone: He sources beans from five continents, then roasts them on-site and offers customers a taste of each coffee before purchasing the beans. Think of it as a wine bar, but for coffee lovers.
Distilleries
Clear Creek Distillery
2389 NW Wilson St.; 503-248-9470 or clearcreekdistillery.com.
Portland’s oldest and most successful distillery makes numerous grappas and eaux-de-vie, including its famous Williams Pear Brandy, a peaty Scotch and an oak-aged brandy. Clear Creek’s tasting room is open Monday through Saturday; tours are given Saturday mornings at 11 a.m.
Edgefield Distillery
2126 SW Halsey St., Troutdale; 503-669-8610 or mcmenamins.com.
Located just outside of Portland at the McMenamins Edgefield resort, this distillery produces barrel-aged brandy, a Dutch-style gin, a coffee liqueur and the rich, malty Hogshead Whiskey. Spirits can be sampled and purchased at the adjacent Distillery Bar.
Highball Distillery
610 SE 10th Ave.; 503-803-3989 or highballdistillery.com.
This new, wind-powered distillery makes its Elemental Vodka from scratch using organic local wheat, in a giant column still. Whiskey is in the works. Tours given by appointment.
House Spirits Distillery
2025 SE Seventh Ave.; 503-235-3174 or medoyeff.com.
At this new distillery’s “spirit and cocktail boutique,” visitors can sample cocktails made with House Spirits’ vodka, gin and aquavit (and soon, rum, whiskey and other small-batch experiments). Tours given by appointment.
Integrity Spirits
909 SE Yamhill St.; 503-517-2030.
This new distillery, which shares a 10,000-square-foot space with a restaurant, brewery and pub, makes vodka, gin, rum and whiskey. Tours given daily.
Hotels
Ace Hotel
Each room in this 79-room, design-driven hotel—formerly the historic Clyde Hotel, where parts of the movie Drugstore Cowboy were filmed—is painted by a local or visiting artist. The decor is old-meets-new: Rooms are outfitted with reconditioned Army field desks and Czech record players (vinyl is available for check-out at the front desk, as are Dutch-style bikes designed by Jorg & Olif).
Doubles from $140; 1022 SW Stark St.; 503-228-2277 or acehotel.com.
The Benson Hotel
This stately 1912 landmark is adorned with white-marble staircases, Austrian crystal chandeliers and Circassian walnut paneling. Its Grand Suite houses a baby grand piano.
Doubles from $169; 309 SW Broadway; 503-228-2000 or bensonhotel.com.
The Heathman Hotel
Original Andy Warhols still hang in Portland’s most famous hotel. The clublike Heathman Restaurant has been a Portland mainstay for years; chef Philippe Boulot’s blend of French and Pacific Northwest cuisines is still some of the city’s finest.
Doubles from $209; 1001 SW Broadway; 800-551-0011 or heathmanhotel.com.
Hotel deLuxe
This Old Hollywood-themed boutique hotel is decorated with crystal chandeliers and celebrity portraits. The swank Driftwood Room is one of Portland’s oldest cocktail destinations.
Doubles from $149; 729 SW 15th Ave.; 503-219-2094 or hoteldeluxeportland.com.
Hotel Lucia
This 1908 building, once the site of the Imperial Hotel, was renovated in 2002 with sleek, urban interiors and hundreds of photographs by former White House photographer David Hume Kennerly.
Doubles from $169; 400 SW Broadway; 503-225-1717 or hotellucia.com.
